Andrew Gross,
New York Times Best-Selling Author and Co-Author of Six #1 Thrillers with James
Patterson, is about to release his next exciting novel on Tuesday, July 12th. I
was fortunate to have met Andrew during The Boston Book Festival. It was a real
"thrill" for me to meet him because some of my favorite reads were
penned by Mr. Gross.

I learned that
prior to being an author, he held quite a different vocation, running sports
apparel companies, such as HEAD and Le Coq Sportif. He was successful in
growing HEAD's ski and tennis lines to #1. Unfortunately, he business career
took a turn, but fortunate to all of us, he decided to become a writer.

Success with
this new career did not come easily. After three years, and 20 rejections from
publishers, he was sitting around his house not knowing his next step in life,
when the phone rang and he recalls that someone said, "Can you take a call
from Jim Patterson?" This single phone call would soon change his career
forever.

Andrew Gross
started writing thrillers with a twist on our own headline news, for example
the Iraq War scandal and the financial meltdown, and he would wrap them around
a poignant local tragedy. As far as influences, he recalls that "one novel
that I think is an overriding influence in my life is ALL THE KINGS MEN, the most
beautiful book written in the US."

Andrew notes
that is new book EYES WIDE OPEN, is a complete departure from previous efforts.
It stems from two of his own real life experiences - "One, the suicide of
my young nephew, a bi-polar, troubled kid who was found at the bottom of a
famous cliff in California. The other, an encounter with none other than
Charles Manson when I was 12 at my father's house in LA. My brother, the father
of the boy who killed himself, lived on the Spahn ranch (before anything
horrible took place)." This book is constructed from his memoir with
chills, family lore, the music scene of the 60's and torn family relationships
between father and sons.

With this new
book being inspired by personal history, I could imagine the visuals being more
elaborate and impactful to his readers. You can also read his first three
chapters on his website and like me, I'm sure you'll want follow along with the
chilling story when his complete book is released.

Jay Erlich is a
successful and respected surgeon and dad enjoying a romantic twentieth wedding
anniversary on the beach when a call comes with the shocking news that his
twenty-one year old nephew has been found dead at the bottom of a famed
landmark cliff, ruled a suicide. Years before, Jay's older brother Charlie, a
wayward child of the Sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the
sway of a charismatic, but deeply disturbed cult figure. A horrible tragedy
ensued, lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and
raised a family, living a quiet, secluded life in a Central California beach
town, under the radar. But the demons from his past have never completely
disappeared.

When Jay, to
help his grieving brother, heads out West, he begins to suspect that his nephew's
suicide may not have been what it appeared at all. At first against his will,
and then determinedly, Jay delves into his brother's dark past—a labyrinth of
secrets, terror, and lies buried in the Sixties, with sons fighting against
fathers, broken music dreams, mental illness, and a thirty year old vendetta
from an infamous killer as real today as it was back then. With eyes wide open,
Jay puts his "happy" life at risk to uncover the truth, a quest that goes
beyond the edge of madness and a family brought to the edge, straight into the
depths of evil.

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